


take a decade off

by santanico



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, School Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-23
Updated: 2014-02-23
Packaged: 2018-01-13 11:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1225135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/santanico/pseuds/santanico
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Bucky meet again at their high school reunion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	take a decade off

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I have never been to a high school reunion, and never hope to be, but I'll bet they're ridiculous.  
> 2\. I have, like, ten different AU settings for Steve/Bucky that I plan on just churning short!fic out for, and this is the first one that actually got completed.  
> 3\. It's schmoopy and silly and don't take it too seriously.

Bucky does not want to go. He’s never been to a high school reunion, has only seen how they play out on TV, and it just – seems like such a bad idea. But he’s in town, and Natasha had called him about it, and she never calls, always texts. Bucky tells himself it’s only out of obligation that he’s going, not interest. High school wasn’t terrible, per se, and his class wasn’t either, but high school was still exhausting. Bucky much preferred college, where everyone didn’t know he was an orphan and constantly treat him like some special case, something to be gentle with.

He isn’t sure what to wear, either. It isn’t black tie formal, but he’s pretty sure showing up in an old t-shirt and jeans isn’t exactly the attire either. He texts Natasha, asking her what she’s going to wear, but she doesn’t reply until fifteen minutes before he’s about to leave.

_semi-formal, leaning towards casual_

Of course. Bucky rolls his eyes as he studies himself in the full-length mirror in his bedroom in his apartment, sliding his hands down the front of his aging black slacks. He decides on shoes and ends up changing into a more basic button-up shirt, rummaging through his closet for a jacket before he heads out the door.

He hates how nervous he is. He’s twenty-eight goddamn years old, and a high school reunion shouldn’t spark this kind of anxiety. He shows up a little late, and as he heads inside of the old and familiar and gets his nametag from a table at the front, before the hallway diverges. He doesn't recognize most of the people he sees at first - they weren't a huge graduating class, but Bucky mostly stayed with his own. 

“There you are,” Natasha says, and Bucky smiles at her as she approaches. Natasha Romanoff, literally the only person he kept in contact with from high school _after_ high school. They had, in a complete incident, gone to the same school to get the same degree in business management. Natasha, in all honesty, is doing much better for herself than Bucky – running a small business from her home, though Bucky doesn’t have a lot of details on exactly what she does. Some online service, he thinks. Natasha is so much smarter than he is.

“Hey,” he says, tugging at his sleeves and glancing around the hallways. It’s eerily similar to being back in school, and he half expects the bell to give a shrill ring and to have to hurry to class.

“We’re all waiting for you,” Natasha says, sliding her arm through Bucky’s and starting to drag him down the hall. He stumbles after her, frowning because she certainly doesn’t look ‘semi-formal’ to him in her four-inch black stiletto heels and charcoal dress. Her shawl is an iridescent dark purple and he wonders if it actually does anything to keep her warm in the air-conditioned building.

“’We’?” Bucky asks, suspicious. Natasha just shakes her red curls and they enter the gym, which isn’t even that well-decorated.

“Hey,” says a loud voice from all the way across the gym. Bucky looks up to see Tony Stark and cringes involuntarily. “It’s Bucky Barnes! Good to see you.” He doesn’t sound sincere but Bucky nods when Natasha lets go of his arm.

Only Natasha calls him Bucky anymore, but he supposes he should have expected this. It’s high school, after all. He can’t just go back and ask everyone to call him ‘James’ instead because it sounds less ridiculous.

A freckled woman he doesn’t recognize steps up along with a guy with glasses and curly brown hair and a soft half-smile.

“Buck, meet Pepper,” Tony says, gesturing behind him to his right, “and Bruce.”

“Hi,” Bucky says slowly, and he’s already overwhelmed just looking between the three of them. “Guests? Friends?” he asks.

“Colleagues,” Bruce and Pepper say at the same time, much to Tony’s annoyance. 

“Bruce and I _work_ together and Pepper is my secretary.”

“I am _not_ your secretary,” Pepper snaps, slapping Tony on the shoulder.

“I didn’t know there were plus ones. Or plus twos, rather,” Bucky says idly, glancing around and looking for Natasha, but she’s disappeared as usual. He wishes he had a cup of punch to at least distract his fidgeting hands.

“Well,” Tony starts, and then he dives into chatter that Bucky only half-listens to, nodding along as he explains everything he did through high school and grad school, how he met Pepper in one of his classes when he was a junior and Bruce through an internship. It’s complicated and boring as hell, and Bucky manages to get away when Tony takes a breath, saying he’s going to get some punch.

He’s on his way to the punch bar when he clips shoulders with someone else.

“Sorry,” he mutters, looking up. He doesn’t have far to look but he’s still astonished when he recognizes who it is. “…Steve _Rogers_?”

Steve Rogers has grown at least eight inches since Bucky last saw him at graduation, and he’s built now too, taking up way more room than he ever did when they knew each other. Bucky can’t help that he stutters for a minute, trying to regain his footing as Steve smiles at him.

“Good to see you,” Steve says in a honey-smooth voice. His face is the same except it isn’t hollow anymore, and Bucky licks his lips. “Are you getting some punch?”

“I…am,” Bucky says, and he notices Steve holding a cup. “I was, I don’t know, I just had to get away from Tony for a minute because he was bragging about that Bruce guy and it was just…”

“Overwhelming,” Steve says in a soft voice, smiling. Bucky takes a step back to give them space between each other and nods. “He has the tendency to be that way, if I remember AP bio.”

Bucky lets himself chortle. “Always glad I didn’t take that class.” He skirts the topic a little. “Have you seen…Clint?” It’s the first name that comes to mind and Steve’s eyebrows raise.

“I haven’t yet, why?”

“Nat wants to talk to him,” he lies, and that’s easy enough. “I think they hooked up in high school and you know Nat.”

Steve smiles and shakes his head. “I assume you mean Natasha Romanoff. You two ended up at the same college, yeah?”

“Yeah, it was all incidental.” Bucky rubs the side of his face and glances over at the punch bowl table again, trying to avoid looking at Steve. “She’s kind of…the only person I kept in touch with.”

Steve is quiet for a moment. “That’s good to know,” he says, and that he doesn’t sound bitter or agitated leaves Bucky with a feeling he can’t quite describe in his gut, some mixture of guilt and relief that doesn’t come together well.

Someone grabs his shoulder and he turns to look back at Peggy Carter.

She gives Bucky a winning smile before saying, “Nice to see you, Steve.” He nods and smiles at her with a little too much recognition and Bucky raises an eyebrow but goes unnoticed by Steve. “James,” Peggy starts, “how have you been? It’s been years, what have you been up to?”

Bucky – pauses. He’s about to try to spin together an impressive lie when they get interrupted again by a boisterous voice that booms through the gymnasium.

“That’ll be Thor,” Peggy says, dropping her hand and turning with Bucky to look at Thor - who's somehow gotten bigger since high school, where he'd been on the soccer team. He's grinning and shaking hands with everyone he approaches, sending out a thrumming positive energy. 

Bucky isn’t sure exactly what happens, but it’s just him and Steve one moment and the next it’s Natasha and Tony and Bruce and Peggy and Jane Foster and Sam Wilson; and even Maria Hill and finally there’s Clint who Bucky spots next to Natasha. Bucky even recognizes another James - Rhodey, Tony’s best friend (at least back in the day), who touches Bruce’s arm and whispers something to him before settling between Bruce and Tony. Tony grins at the addition and leans back to mumble something to Rhodey, who laughs and nudges him in the ribs.

The group that’s congregated is mostly just chattering amongst themselves and Bucky considers slipping away before Steve says, “So Bucky, what is it you’ve been up to?”

People get quiet, which is the opposite of what Bucky wanted because he wouldn’t mind telling Steve all alone, maybe, after a few beers, but now everyone’s looking at him and he doesn’t know _why_ because he never got this much attention in high school. Then again, neither did Steve and now that he looks the way he does, Bucky has already caught multiple pairs of eyes sizing him up like dinner.

Bucky is the _opposite_ of jealous. He ignores Natasha’s gaze, which is fixed on him now.

“Uh, I went to school for business management,” he says, figuring keeping it as close to the truth is important for weaving a believable lie, “and went onto grad school to get a degree in criminal justice.”

He glances at Natasha and sees her eyebrows have disappeared into her hair. He…tries not to wince. So much for spinning a lie that was basically just an exaggerated version of the truth.

“Really?” Steve says, sounding genuinely intrigued. “What kind of work is that?”

“Oh, you know,” Bucky starts, and shit, he can feel the guilt rolling in his belly. What a stupid lie, what a stupid thing to say, why couldn’t he just admit he was working at Sears and had resumes sent out to twenty different places looking for managers, including a goddamn McDonalds? “I worked with a local police department for a couple of years, you know, as a criminologist.” Jesus Christ, how fucking transparent is he? No one is giving him an angry look yet, not even Natasha who simply looks curious, like she’s waiting for him to slip up. Steve is still looking at him expectantly, figuring there has to be more to the story. “I'm thinking of going back to grad school.”

“That’s exciting,” Peggy says, and when no one else comments she looks at Steve. “Steve, I haven’t heard from you yet?”

People are chattering more comfortably now and Bucky lets his shoulders drop because it seems like his lie has worked. He can still feel Natasha’s eyes but he ignores her, training his gaze instead on Steve, focusing on him as he chuckles.

“Well, I went to a technical school for a couple years, but it wasn’t for me…” Steve looks down and smiles. “And then I joined the army.”

That raises more than a few eyebrows. Tony says, audibly, “The fuck?” and Jane murmurs something to Thor about how that “explains a lot”.

“The army?” Bucky repeats, frowning. “That doesn’t seem like you.”

For the first time that night, the gaze they share feels intimate again and Bucky simultaneously wants to tear himself away and melt into those eyes. Those intense eyes. Oh God.

“I didn’t think it was either,” Steve admits, “but I did want to serve the country. It changed my perspective on a lot of things. It’s a…corrupt system.”

Tony lets out a whistle and there’s a couple of chuckles between murmurs of other conversations in the circle.

Steve shrugs. “I got shot,” he says, and Bucky swallows tightly. “Sent home. Recovered. Been in college part-time since then, just trying to stay on my feet. It’s been a little rough, admittedly, but…I have my health.” It’s a weak ending and the group continues to stare, still waiting, though Steve is clearly done talking.

After the silence, Thor jumps in and starts talking about how he’s engaged to Jane, which raises a few eyebrows as well. Bucky looks over and sees her blushing and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as Thor pulls her close with a grin. 

“Jane is an accomplished scientist,” he says proudly, “An astrophysicist.”

Jane laughs, shaking her head, and hides her face behind a sheet of brown hair. Tony shifts and starts to talk to her, and the group breaks up again, people heading in different directions until it’s just Bucky, Steve, and Peggy again. Peggy addresses Steve, taking him by the arm and leading him towards a table, as Bucky watches the rest of the group, as well as some people he doesn’t know, taking seats and sharing chit-chat. 

“James.” He turns around to Clint Barton, Natasha behind him, smiling coyly. Clint holds out his hand and Bucky clasps it and nods. Natasha hooks her arm into Bucky’s again, turning and facing Clint who smiles at them both. “You two went to school together.”

Natasha nods. “ _Business_ and management,” she says in a voice leaking with a dangerous poison, smiling sweetly at Bucky. “Then Buck here went on to completely change everything he had stood for before.” She nudges him in the stomach with her elbow and it looks gentle, but it hurts and Bucky tries not to stumble back. He forces a grin and nods along with her. “A good school too, but you must have just changed your mind, huh, Bucky?”

“Yeah,” he grits out, and Clint frowns at them both as if he just barely suspects something is a little off. Bucky sighs. “’Tasha, what about Clint?” He motions at Clint – someone who he had never been close to, but whom he thinks he understands. Orphaned and alone and stuck in weird public schools. Being an orphan brings you together, regardless of if you move in the same social groups. They had eaten lunch together, albeit quietly for at least two years in high school, before Bucky became loose friends with Steve. All of his friendships felt so loose, at least in high school.

Clint smiles again. “I’m a professional archer.”

Bucky’s eyebrows shoot up and he opens his mouth. “Really?” he says, because it’s all he can think. Clint nods, giving him a modest smile. “Wow. I never would have guessed.”

“Well,” Clint says, leaning back and scratching his chin with a shrug. “It’s a long story. I’ll share it someday, but I don’t think tonight necessarily needs more drama.” He pauses. “Look at Steve Rogers, huh? That’s not a transformation I ever imagined. He was scrawny and barely five-four when we went to high school together. He was in my P.E. class in junior year, he used to keep his inhaler in his back pocket.”

Bucky shrugs and Natasha finally slides her arm out from his. “I haven’t seen him, before tonight,” he admits. “We kind of lost touch.”

Natasha nods. “Same,” she says. “But I didn’t keep in contact with most people after high school.”

Clint hums. “I’m flattered,” he says. Natasha shoots him a glare and Bucky rolls his eyes. “What do you think of Tony and his new friends?” Clint asks, quickly switching topics. “I can’t exactly tell what’s going on there.”

“Umm,” Bucky starts, frowning.

Natasha interrupts – “Right?” she says with a laugh. “He hasn’t changed a bit, he just has that stupid goatee that makes him look like he’s hitting forty.” She shakes her head and crosses her arms over her chest. “Something makes me think there’s a threesome going on just because there’s no tension between the doctor and the woman.”

“What?” Bucky says, frowning more deeply. “When did we decide Tony was hooking up with anyone?”

Clint snorts and nods along with Natasha. “It’s the way they…move around each other.” Clint shoots Natasha a look and she gives a tiny nod and he then looks at Bucky. “You can just tell, when two people share a common goal. Well, that’s not exactly what I meant, but in this case it’s Pepper and Bruce and the goal is Tony Stark.” Natasha chortles and drops her head to hide her laughter. “It’s really not that funny, Nat – I gauge your own interest based on the same formula.”

It’s Bucky’s time to laugh when Natasha shoots an icy glare at Clint, but he gives her an easy smile and she relaxes almost immediately.

“Yeah, I think I know what you mean,” Bucky says to Clint. It’s then that Clint – smirks. And it’s this kind of dangerous smirk that makes Bucky want to take a step backwards because he’s pretty sure he’s about to be told something he really doesn’t want to hear. 

“In a world where people are planets, you’re Mercury, orbiting Steve’s sun endlessly.”

“Well,” Bucky snaps back, “if Steve’s the sun then _you’re_ orbiting him too, but you’re probably like, Venus or something.”

“Nah man,” says Clint with that ease that only comes from, Bucky thinks, a lot of weed or alcohol, “I’m like, Jupiter – and Natasha’s probably Neptune, even though you’d think fire and Mars, but whatever.” Natasha scoffs and rolls her eyes. “The point is that you’re looking at Steve Rogers in a way that most of us aren’t.”

Bucky takes a sip of his punch. 

“Dangerous territory,” Natasha says under her breath and Bucky manages to scowl at her. “Sorry,” she says after a minute, patting him on the shoulder. “But you’re the one who made an idiot out of yourself,” she says, and Bucky groans despite himself as Clint frowns. “I’m sure you can charm your way through it, though. You should try the truth this time.”

Clint is looking between them when Natasha grabs his elbow and heads towards the other end of the gymnasium, leaving Bucky standing awkwardly by himself. He shifts his weight between his feet for a moment and then glances back to where Peggy and Steve had been sitting. A group has congregated again, and Bucky squints – because Clint’s explanation really fits, if he looks at how everyone’s kind of surrounding Steve without being aware of it. 

Steve looks up from whoever’s talking to him just as Bucky’s looking over and their eyes catch. Bucky’s about to tear away and maybe leave the room, wander the halls and wonder what the point of this is – he’s pretty sure there’s going to be some kind of announcement by someone later in the evening, maybe a more involved dinner for the all-important guests, but Bucky’s not really interested in those things anyway.

He’s about to turn and get away from his humiliation when Steve stands and motions with his hand, sort of waves as Bucky but doesn’t wait, either. Bucky realizes he’s not going to get away as Steve approaches him with a half-smile, and he tries to just smile back for the moment.

“Hey,” Steve says once he’s in proximity, “Follow me.”

It isn’t a question so Bucky doesn’t waste his time answering, striding after Steve who takes long steps. They step out into the hallway and Bucky pauses but Steve doesn’t, heading towards the front of the building. Bucky frowns, and he can tell Steve has an agenda and isn’t just wandering by the set of his shoulders and how he doesn’t stop to glance around as if trying to figure out where he’s going. Still, Bucky doesn’t question it. He follows.

Steve actually leads Bucky outside, and he only stops when he settles into one of the benches near the front of the school. Bucky hesitates before sitting next to him, leaving just enough space that it’s not uncomfortably intimate, without being on the extreme other side of the bench. Then, Steve looks at him.

“I’m a loser,” Bucky says without thinking, and he turns his face away quickly to avoid the confused frown Steve gives him.

“What?”

“I lied,” Bucky says, voice tense. It’s late June, after the high-schoolers have been out for summer, and the sun is hanging on the horizon, sinking down slowly across the parking lot. Bucky rubs his hands together and clears his throat, glancing back at Steve and seeing that frown again – it’s humiliating. “I made up a bunch of stuff about how successful I’ve been on the fly because I wanted to…” He stops. Maybe that’s too much to say. Steve raises an eyebrow and opens his mouth and Bucky finishes because he has to – “You. I wanted to impress you.”

Steve’s eyes widen and he twitches back slightly before shaking his head. “Me. Me?” he says, carding a hand through his hair and then giving a short laugh. “I thought for sure you were going to say Stark.”

“What?” Bucky snorts. “No, I definitely – I don’t care what he thinks.”

Steve is quiet for a moment and Bucky tries not to focus on his own burning face, even as the blood rushes out of it.

“Criminal justice did seem like a strange career path for you,” Steve says under his breath. Bucky flushes again. “Especially after business management. But that isn’t exactly believable either.” Steve looks at him with a small smile. “Not the Bucky I know.”

“Well,” Bucky says, clearing his throat and shrugging his shoulders. “Business management is where I went, yeah. I just. Don’t really have a job right now.”

“Oh.”

“Well, I have a job, but not in business management.” He groans. Being a sales associate at Sears isn’t exactly his dream job, and it’s a new one too – after he was laid off because the Best Buy near his apartment went out of business. Fucking figures. “I have been thinking of going back to school, or trying to do another internship to build my resume but…you need money to live and buy groceries and well. Living alone, it’s…not easy. School part-time and paying bills and rent and working, it just seems scarier than anything was before.”

Steve is probably the only person whose face doesn’t meld itself into pity when he says that. He’s smiling, and there’s a sort of sadness to it, sure, but he isn’t looking at Bucky like he’s a lost cause. He’s looking at Bucky like he’s a friend. Like he has hope. Bucky can’t remember the last time he had hope for himself, so seeing it in the eyes of someone from his past is sort of disorienting.

“Maybe you’re a loser, but you’re still the only person who gave me the time of day.” 

They’re both quiet for a minute. “We were just lost,” he says after contemplating for a minute. “Maybe I saw you today and realized how much I missed you. Maybe I saw you today and thought…” He trails off. “That I could get laid.”

Steve laughs, loud and clear, and Bucky lets himself smile too. He was only half-joking, but if Steve thinks it’s just a joke, that’s okay too. He leans back in the bench as Steve finishes laughing, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Buck,” Steve says after a minute, “You don’t have to lie to me. Of all people. There’s no way I wouldn’t respect you, after everything you’ve been through.”

Bucky shrugs. “Look at you,” he says, “you grew up and you just…changed.”

“I’m still Steve,” Steve says, though more quietly this time. “Just because my appearance has changed doesn’t mean I have, fundamentally.”

“Clearly. You still joined the army.”

Steve grins. “I thought you’d get a kick out of that. Remember how terrible P.E. was for me? I got asthma attacks trying to run around during kickball.”

“You had to sit out at least twice a week.”

“It was embarrassing.” Steve is still smiling as he sighs and leans back as well. “You really don’t have to impress me,” he says, shooting Bucky a quick look. “I’m impressed just looking at you.”

“Uh,” Bucky mumbles and rolls his shoulders, pressing his lips together. “Are you flirting with me?”

“Not intentionally,” Steve says, still with a smile. “But maybe.”

They sit like that, just quiet and together until Steve says, “I don’t really know why I came here.”

“Natasha invited me,” Bucky offers, his only viable explanation. “But I’d forgotten what high school was really like before I got here.”

Steve hums and nods, closing his eyes. “I don’t know what to do with myself.”

Bucky glances over at Steve and frowns. There’s a look of serenity on his face and Bucky finds himself asking, “Where did you get shot?”

“You mean what country?” Steve asks, eyes still closed. The serene expression doesn’t falter.

“No, I mean…” He trails off, knowing Steve will understand.

“Leg. In the thigh. Left.”

“Oh.” Bucky crinkles his nose. “You don’t limp.”

“Not anymore.”

Bucky’s chest aches for a moment until he takes a deep breath. “And you never went back?”

“It was reckless, I think. I made a decision to join the army because…I thought I could help the world, even in a small way. I thought I could make a difference.” Bucky bites his lip and listens with rapt attention, leaning in towards Steve’s relaxed body without thinking. “When I got home, I realized how…fragile life is. Not because I almost died or anything, I mean, I went through physical therapy and I was discharged but, you never quite realize until…you think it’s gone.”

Bucky thinks he sort of understands that. He wants to close his eyes too and join Steve in whatever world he’s wrapped up in. He says, “Yeah,” because Steve’s still not looking at him and he wants to confirm that he gets it.

“I’m glad I met you,” Steve says, and he opens his eyes to smile at Bucky. “You were my best friend.” There’s a rawness in his voice that catches Bucky off guard and he licks his lips, glances away. When Steve’s hand finds Bucky's he flinches at first before relaxing. Steve’s fingers and palm are warm, his grip strong without being tight. “And I’m glad I saw you here tonight.”

It’s a natural progression, because the dim light from the setting sun is almost fucking romantic, and it’s quiet outside and warm with early summer and a light breeze. Bucky feels it rush through him, along with memories – not memories of actual actions, but of feelings. He remembers Steve’s voice as he stumbled, the vibrations of their laughter, the softness of Steve’s hands on Bucky’s face as he cried because he had no family. Things that can’t be rewritten.

Bucky kisses Steve. Steve kisses Bucky. It’s as simple and kind as that, and Bucky’s heartbeat stutters when Steve’s hand brushes his cheek mid-kiss. It’s not a passionate kiss, because first kisses rarely are – it’s Steve’s dry lips and Bucky’s wet ones, that strange awkwardness that comes with being unsure because even though you’re in your late twenties, you’re still lost. You still don’t know what to do.

Steve breaks it and Bucky breathes in deep, their foreheads touching. “I wanted to do that for a long time,” he says after he catches his breath, blood rushing to his head and his hands (he can feel his fingers tingle). “I wish I hadn’t put it off.”

Steve smiles and swipes his thumb over Bucky’s bottom lip which is so painfully fucking intimate that Bucky can’t help the soft _oh_ he lets out. He’s trying not to lean in so far that he falls on top of Steve, but that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea at this point.

“I’d like it if you left with me.” Bucky swallows. “We can stay for a while longer if you want to put on appearances.” Steve grins as Bucky shakes his head and tries to say something to deny that he’d ever want to pretend not to be around Steve. “I’m kidding, I just thought it might be embarrassing if Natasha found out.”

Bucky finally pulls back, though unwillingly, and groans as he thinks about Natasha. “She’ll find out eventually,” he says and Steve raises a questioning eyebrow. “If there is an eventually," he adds hastily. "She always does.”

Steve nods and sighs, but it’s one of those happy kind of sighs, like he’s done good work and he’s pleased. “I wasn’t sure you’d be here tonight,” Steve says after another minute of silence between them on the bench. Then, “It’s getting a little chilly. Maybe we should go back inside.”

“Just to say good-night,” Bucky adds, throwing Steve another glance that’s meant to be meaningful.

Steve grins, and it changes Bucky’s entire perspective.


End file.
